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DT 30058

by Deep Threat  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30058

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs om a sunny August morning.

We have a pangra missing the X this morning, which suggests a ProXimal production. I was held up by two pairs of crossing clues towards the end of solving the puzzle, and that pushed me well into *** time.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ANSWER buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

7a           Smart maths done ignoring all tips for race (8)
MARATHON – Strip out the first and last letters (ignoring all tips) from the first three words of the clue, then put the remainder together.

9a           Mobile north side of city becomes troublesome (6)
THORNY – Anagram (mobile) of NORTH, followed by the last letter (side) of citY.

800+ Free Thorny & Plant Images

10a         Rat sick with love for second one (6)
INFORM – The definition is a verb. Start with another word for ‘sick’, then replace the second occurrence of the Roman numeral for one with the letter that looks like a love score in tennis.

11a         Small organisms, hundred on piece of wood (8)
PLANKTON – A sawn piece of wood, followed by an informal word for a hundred.

Plankton: We should be thanking these microscopic critters! — Save Coastal Wildlife

12a         About to be disciplined with respect to athletics event (3,3,4,4)
FOR THE HIGH JUMP – The first word of the answer can mean ‘with respect to’. The remaining words are an athletics field event. The whole is a metaphor suggesting the approach of severe punishment.

15a         Pass water day back, seeing bass (4)
DEEP – Put together a euphemistic word for ‘pass water’ and an abbreviation for Day, then reverse (back) the result.

17a         Second cold chip (5)
SHARD – An abbreviation for Second, followed by another word for ‘cold’, perhaps applied to a winter. The answer is a chip or fragment of pottery or glass.

19a         Still recalled interview with odd characters getting rejected (4)
EVEN – Alternate letters of iNtErViEw, read from right to left (recalled).

20a         Air Force officer from Queens flying with old radar (8,6)
SQUADRON LEADER – Anagram (flying) of QUEENS, OLD and RADAR.

RAF Squadron Leader Rank Slides ( RAF Officers Combat 95 Sand DPM )

23a         Pestered about branded clothes (8)
BADGERED – Another word for ‘branded’ is wrapped around (clothes) the Latin word for ‘about’ or ‘concerning’

25a         Interior organs taxidermist originally stored in bottles (6)
VITALS – Some small glass bottles wrapped round the first letter (originally) of Taxidermist.

27a         Cold is able to disappear after knocking back alcohol (6)
COGNAC – Start with an abbreviation for Cold, then take a phrase (3,2) meaning ‘is able to disappear’, reverse it (after knocking back) and add it to your starting letter, to get a distilled grape product.

28a         Spoil American for nothing with an addition to cake (8)
MARZIPAN – Put together another word for ‘spoil’, an American usage meaning ‘nothing’, and AN (from the clue).

Down

1d           Pad set up; new beginning (4)
DAWN – Another word for a pad of several sheets is reversed (set up, in a Down clue), followed by an abbreviation for New.

2d           Mixture of scrap for all to see in books (6)
RAGOUT – A scrap of cloth, followed by the initials of one of the sets of books in the Bible wrapped round the cinematic classification allowing everybody to see the film. The mixture is a food term.

Very Good Recipes of Ragoût from Cuisine Culinaire

3d           Bargain goes fast after sale’s first promoted (4)
SNIP – Another word for ‘goes fast’ (as in ‘she — to the shops before dinner’) has the first letter of Sale moved from the back to the front.

4d           Associate cut short offensive husband (6)
ATTACH – An offensive move is cut short, then the abbreviation for Husband is added.

5d           Overconfident birds on river (8)
COCKSURE – Some male birds, followed by a Yorkshire river.

6d           Pressure with rent as part of salary that’s deficient (10)
INCOMPLETE – Put together an abbreviation for Pressure and another verb for ‘rent’, then wrap another word for what a salary is around the result.

8d           Holds up baskets (7)
HAMPERS – Double definition, the first a verb, the second a noun.

13d         Eclipse on display, when crossing middle of meadow (10)
OVERSHADOW – Another word for ‘on’ or ‘about’, followed by another word for ‘display’ wrapped round the middle letters of meADow.

14d         Canadian neighbour in Toronto had illness coming back (5)
IDAHO – A US state on the Canadian border is hidden in reverse in the clue.

16d         Stopping promotion (8)
PLUGGING – Double definition; stopping a leak; or pushing a commercial product in the market.

18d         Dean half-cut on organ offers transfer (7)
DELIVER – The first half of DEan (half cut) followed by an organ of the body.

21d         Pollution choking city guide (6)
DIRECT – A general word for ‘pollution’ or ‘filth’ wrapped round the postcode letters for the City of London.

22d         Get at article within container (6)
ATTAIN – AT (from the clue) followed by a container (holding paint, perhaps) wrapped round an indefinite article.

24d         Several wanting Germany instead of Southern Hemisphere (4)
DOME – Start with a word for ‘several’, then replace the abbreviation for Southern with the IVR code for Germany.

Dome vs. Cupola - What's the difference? | Ask Difference

26d         Metal cable (4)
LEAD – Double definition, the second being an electrical cable connecting two pieces of kit, or connecting the kit to a power source.

The Quick Crossword pun TAIL + HEARSE + WHIFFED = TAYLOR SWIFT

38 comments on “DT 30058”

  1. This was great fun from one of my favourite setters and for me back pager of the week. I was on X-man alert from the off as we had Zandio last week and Silvanus in the Toughie slot yesterday.
    Perfect for a Friday, I loved it all (not sure if U is still in use as a movie classification in 2d though, my LOI) but perhaps my winners were 10&28a, the latter a real smiler. Great stuff.
    Many thanks to ProXimal and Deep Threat.

  2. This reminded me of an old fashioned Friday puzzle which always peaked at the end of the week.
    Last in was 2d which took a while to parse and was my favourite followed by 28a and 5d.
    Top draw cluing throughout and a ***/****.for me.
    Thanks to setter and DT for the pics

  3. Well I got there but not without a bit of help from the hints. Still, unlike yesterday, I solved the majority and thoroughly enjoyed it. 2d required a lot of pondering. My COTD is 27a with 12a a close second. A fitting Friday cryptic.

    Many thanks to the setter for the challenge and also to DT for the hints.

  4. It took me a long time to get into this puzzle but, once a few clues had gone in, thing speeded up. As always with a Proximal ouzzle, for me,there was quite a bit of guesswork, reverse engineering of the parsing and bunging in of unparsed clues. Iam happy to have actually finished it without help, although it was a bit like wading through saltmarsh, demanding but satisfying to finally get through. 12a was well-disguised anagram, 26a a fine lego clue but my COTD was 7a was the pseudo-lurker, , which was very clever. Thanks to Proximal and to DT. I shall now explore the parsing of 23a and 13d in the hints, as I couldn’t quite nail the rationale. At least I did better than I usually do with a Proximal and I’m glad I didn’t give up.

  5. A joy to complete.
    Difficult, the NW alone took a solid 3* time.
    So many very clever clues with 10, 27 and 28a and 1and 6d as contenders for COTD
    The winner, 28a.
    Many thanks, Proximal and DT.

  6. Hi from sunny Sandhurst, didn’t like this at all at first, but it grew on me as I gradually got the setter’s way of thinking. Last in was 28a which seemed quite easy when I knew the answer (don’t they all?) Glad I didn’t give up after the first visit (took me three in all!) favourite today was 6d.

  7. Like others, the parsing of 2d took way too long and stretched my solving time by a disproportionate amount of time. Once solved it became my favourite, along with 21d, my final entry. I thought the whole puzzle was pleasantly tricky and satisfying to complete, so many thanks to ProXimal and DT.

  8. After Fantastic Fursday I was looking forward to what I was assuming would be a very enjoyable proXimal production but, with apologies to the X-man, this wasn’t it. 3.5*/2*

    LOI was 2d which was a bung-in as I could not fathom it at all. And, a raised eyebrow for 15a.

    No stand-out favourites but 20a got a smile.

    Thanks to proXimal and DT especially for explaining 2d.

  10. I got off to a slow start but enjoyed this tricky little fellow. A sense of frustration though as I completed it with one teeny clue holding out – 1d!
    Of course, once I referred to DT it was an ‘of course!’ moment

    The two long ones across the middle were my favourites.

    Thanks to proXimal and Threat Of The Deep

  11. The X-man cometh bearing an excellent puzzle. Took me a little while to come up with the 1d pad and the branded clothes but no other problems to report.
    Podium places went to 12,20&27a plus 4d.

    Thanks to proXimal and to DT for the review and those low voices which I haven’t heard in a long time!

  12. I’d never heard of the expression at 12a and because of that, as well as drawing a blank with 2d, I settled for a bit of electronic help (those extra letters!) in order to finish, which I did, but not happily (my first DNF this week). I do not fare well with this setter, for some reason, and I found this one typically quite difficult, though I did enjoy 1a, 28a, 5d & 13d. Thanks to DT and proXimal. ***** / **

  13. Super puzzle – steady progress throughout and for me the most testing of the week’s backpagers, which makes it ideal for its Friday appearance. I enjoyed the proliferation of “add / remove / swap a letter” clues, the smooth surface reads and entirely fair clueing.

    Podium places to 10a, 25a and 24d, with COTD to the superb combined surface & answer of 27a.

    3* / 3.5*

    Many thanks to the setter and to DT for the blog

  14. Excellent puzzle, great fun with some really clever clues but it made one think. After my trials and tribulations with yesterdays Ray T this was a breath of fresh air.
    Didnt fully understand all the clues but the hints solved that issue.
    Off now back to my candle-making duties, Mrs B has decided she would like a new batch for upcoming birthdays etc.
    Thx to all
    ***/*****

    1. Candle-making now, Brian? What a versatile chap you are. It’s so nice to try different skills, isn’t it ? This year, I am growing sweet corn and yellow pear plum tomatoes for the first time and am about to embark on an embroidered family tree in cross-stitch.

  15. A bit of a struggle with the NW corner a headache
    COTD has to be 29a as it is such a clever anagram

  16. Thought this was going to be a horror after struggling in the NW but after moving away from there it became an easier ride however I did still need a couple of nudges (10a and 24d) to finish off. Thank you proXimal and DT. It would be so good to have some news of BD but in the interim I send him warm Get Well wishes 💐🌈.

  18. I thought this was an excellent puzzle. Not a weak clue in sight, and a pleasure to solve.

    1. You’ve expanded your alias so your comment needed moderation. Both aliases will work from now on.

  20. I never did parse 2d so thanks for the hint, got everything else though. Favourite was 12a. Thanks to ProXimal and DT.

  21. I found this tough but fair with some great clues 2d, 28a. But I spent a few years as a 20a so COTD it is.

  22. As this is proXimal I had low expectations of being able to finish without looking at the hints. And after the first pass I am beginning to think yesterday’s puzzle was not so bad after all. Just can’t get on this chap’s wavelength. But that’s down to me. Thanks anyway to proXimal and DT.

  23. My guess was this was a Chalicea offering today but it seems I was wrong. Found a lot of hmm’s in the cluing today and parsing of many was hard to fathom. 3.5*/2.5* today

    Favourites 12a, 20a, 27a & 8d

    Thanks to proXimal and DT

  24. I love cooking but I was staring at 2d for an age!
    Ceded to ask the ‘omnipotent one’ (wife) for help! of course!! Silly me!
    A 4year old would know ragout was the answer.

  25. Closest I’ve been for a while to finishing a Proximal puzzle without resorting to the hints for parsing – needed for 2 and 21d. Plenty of head scratching needed and bung-ins with post insertion parsing. Favourite clue was 23a.
    Thanks to Proximal for the challenge and DT for the help

  26. 3 in the NW turned what would have been a respectably pedestrian solve into a Toughie time slog. 1&2d along with 10a the hold outs that stubbornly refused to yield & of course once one penny eventually dropped the other two quickly followed. It would have helped had W,F&G not figured elsewhere as I’d clocked a probable X-less pangram early doors. All a bit of a struggle really & reckon I appreciated the puzzle’s merits rather more reading back through it after completion. I’ll nominate a podium of cake, booze & stew plus a mention for 5d.
    Thanks to proXimal & DT

  28. Gave in after trying so hard and then when I read the hints for 2d and 21d wondered why the clues were so tough. A terrific challenge, thank you proXimal and DT

  29. I was beginning to think I needed to self refer for a brain scan as nothing apart from a couple of clues made any sense. My faith in my abilities was restored when I completed two other cryptics from other publications. I am not on this setter’s wavelength obviously and found little enjoyment in this puzzle.

  30. I know everyone has moved on but this was way beyond my capabilities. Solved just over half but still need the hints for some to see why that was the answer.

    Kudos to the megabrains who solved this.

    Thanks to all.

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